Margot's Blog: Birthday tea in the hills

24 December 2021

Birthday tea in the hills

Susan had decided she wanted to go have tea on the beach for her birthday. That sounded like an excellent idea! We had it all sorted; Dean would bake a cake, Martin would drive us to the beach, all good. But when the day came, I got a text; Susan and Dean had got their booster the day before, and Susan was feeling a bit rough. She suggested we still have the tea, but just in the hills near her house. That work fine for me.

I had my booster that very morning. I knew there was a chance I would feel rough too, but I didn't think that chance was too big. By the time I got ready to get onto my bicycle I was still feeling totally fine. I just made sure I had some aspirin in my bag.

I had decided I would just bring lots of liquids. I am a thirsty person! So I had brought three full flasks, and my stove, and two bottles of mulled wine Susan had brought to my place earlier, and we didn't end up actually drinking them.

As I knew I would have to carry it into the hills, I put everything into a backpack and just carried on my back. It was heavy! And it is uphill all the way. By the time I parked my bike some of my back muscles were protesting. But I was there now! And when my bike was parked Martin appeared, and together we went to fetch the birthday girl. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and Martin had his big fat camera with him. Excellent idea! And Susan was still not feeling 100% but still good enough for our little adventure. Dean was fine.

We just walked up the path that leads into the valley from their house. She had a particular waterfall in mind as a goal, but we could tell that that would be entirely in the shade. We decided to set down a bit earlier, when we were still in the sun. It was not in itself a cold day but that was mainly thanks to the sun! And we found a good rock to sit down on, and all the bags started yielding tea paraphernalia.

Dean's cake was amazing, and we managed to finish an entire bottle of mulled wine, and it was all rather pleasant. And when redundant eating and drinking we decided to go to see the waterfall after all. I left my bag behind! There was hardly anybody in the hills, and there were still so many containers of liquid in my back I didn't want to carry it around if not necessary. It was a nice walk and the waterfall was amazing too! And then we walked back.

All the while we could see a cloud cover slowly approaching from the north. Martin had already been commenting on it when we walked up to Susan's and Dean's house, but it kept creeping closer and closer. It started on Anglesey, but it crept over the Strait, and then into the valley of the Ogwen. We were glad we were not on the beach, because that would have been in the fog! And we were comfortably above it. These views were amazing. A lovely birthday present from nature to Susan!